A/N: Yes, I realize that it has been over a year since I've update this story. I also realize that I said I would update with three chapters all at once, but then I thought that one chapter sooner was better than three chapters later. You pickin' up what I'm puttin' down? I don't want to bore you with the details and excuses of why I haven't been writing this, so here it is! It's a bit shorter than the other ones because I feel like this chapter ends nicely where it does. So I'll shut up now and you can read it, hows about that?

Dislclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

Hayner's worn out sneakers kept hitting the cement beneath him hastily. The click of his steps ricocheted off of every brick wall and garbage can in the alley. Tension swirled in the air majestically like the smoke off of the burning end of a cigarette. Jagged gasps for oxygen released from Roxas and Pence as they jogged to keep up with Hayner. The vermillion lit sky above that they knew all too well began dimming, slowly slipping into the eerie twilight that marked the difference between a dream and a nightmare.

"Hayner!" Pence breathed, stopping to rest for a second, only to start running again. "Wait up!" The beaten down brick walls raced past him and he felt dizziness creeping up on him.

"Pence, you wait here. I'll get him." Roxas said, noticing Pence's falter. His eyebrows furrowed in determination as he sucked in a deep breath and pushed his legs with all the force he could gather. The momentum was whipping at the spikes in Roxas's hair and his shoes pounded against the cobblestone madly, one second after the other. "Just...a few...more..steps!" Roxas grunted in between ragged gasps of air. Hayner stole a quick glance behind his shoulder to see Roxas tailing him, assuming Pence was somewhere in their dust. Within that second, Roxas bent his knees and lunged himself forward. Hayner stopped when he saw Roxas bend his knees and started to run when it was too late. Roxas threw himself at Hayner mid-run and knocked him harshly to the ground.

"What were you thinking back there?" Roxas let all of his weight fall on Hayner's back.

"Roxas, what the hell!" Hayner yelled, bringing his hand up to the liquid falling from his chin.

"You guys all right?" Pence suddenly came into view.

"Yeah." Roxas stood up, wiping the dirt off his jeans. Pence saw Hayner stand up out of the corner of his eye and noticed his chin dripping into already bloody hands.

"Your chin...I should-" began Pence.

"I'm fine." Hayner grunted. He turned towards Roxas. "Why the hell did you attack me?"

"So you'd quit running."

"Yeah, and your motivation?"

"Why did you have to act that way in front of Olette?" Roxas jumped straight into a rampage.

"I don't know what had her thinking it would be okay to invite Seifer to Kairi's birthday party!"

"Exactly, it was Kairi's party. Not yours." Roxas emphasized.

"Why aren't you on Pence's case? He obviously disapproved." Hayner ushered his hands towards Pence.

"Yeah, less blatant than you did." Pence shot back.

"Now you're choosing sides? Whose blood did the peacemaker spill?" Hayner taunted, raising his right eyebrow.

Sensing the tension between the two, Roxas spoke before things could get out of hand. "Listen, the point is that Olette is our friend. We should hear her side of the story first before we make up our own conclusions."

"No, you listen." Hayner stepped closer and jammed his index finger into Roxas's chest. "The point is that Olette didn't even tell us she invited him. I'd be less pissed off if she had said something about it earlier!"

"I doubt that." Roxas and Hayner both looked at Pence.

"Whatever, I'm out of here." Hayner backed away from Roxas and stormed off in the direction he was going before the confrontation, leaving behind the feeling of chagrin.

.xxx

"Do you think we were too harsh?" Pence asked anxiously, feeling regret for the events that transpired a few minutes before.

"Pence, the day you say something 'too harsh,' I'll let you know." Roxas fell back onto the beaten, yet oddly comfortable, couch and bounced a little.

"He was right though, I almost never take sides." A dart flew onto the board and stuck as far from the center as the board would allow.

"Don't worry. Things will blow over and it'll be fine. I mean, come on, it's not like he was hurting anyone. He left a gift, didn't he?" Roxas asked rhetorically, scratching the back of his head and stretching out.

"Oh, right." Pence smiled slightly and threw another dart, this time with more accuracy.

Roxas drew in a long breath and watched Pence empty his handful of darts and tally the score. Roxas collected the darts from the board and scribbled his name and underlined it on the score sheet nearby. Squinting his left eye, he placed his right hand into the air where he believed his dart would hit the center. With a flick of his wrist and focused attention, Roxas hit dead center. "Bulls eye." He spoke quickly and tallied.

"Man." Pence said astonished. "You hit bulls eye on your first turn every time. I think you purposely challenge me to darts when I have things on my mind." They both shared a hearty laugh.

"It wouldn't matter either way. I've been playing around eight years." Roxas held a smug expression.

"No way, you'd have to have been playing since you were seven years old." Pence shook his head and wore wide eyes when Roxas hit another bulls eye.

"Yeah. When I was little I didn't know what was always hanging on the wall in the living room. One day my dad opened it up and began to play darts in front of me. I must have stared at him for a while or something because he asked me if I wanted to play. He pulled up a chair for me to stand on and on my first throw I missed the board completely. My dad told me I'd get the hang of it some day and that he would want to play me when I thought I could beat him. I practiced to prove myself to his words. He was hosting an office party one afternoon and that's when I decided to challenge him in front of his coworkers. My mom leaned down and whispered to me that my dad had been undefeated, but I wanted to play anyways. I got the first dart and hit bulls eye. A couple people clapped and my dad realized that he didn't want to throw the game so I could win. But in the end I beat him. He smiled and said he was proud that he lost to his only son. I've never missed bulls eye on my first throw since then." A swift whip-like sound brought Pence's attention back to the board as the dart clung to the center.

"I lost again." Pence rolled his eyes and smiled. "Are you sure you haven't missed a bulls eye ever since then?"

Roxas chuckled. "I'm not that good, but thanks." He pinned the score sheet up to the small cork bulletin board with the last dart he used to win with. Looking back at Pence, he realized what he had lately been forgetting to ask. "Did you want a rematch?"

"Nah, no thanks." Pence shook his head casually.

"You sure? I keep forgetting to ask you lately. It's not that I assume you don't want to play again or anything like that-"

"Really, it's okay." Pence reassured, but his face wasn't as convincing of the casual tone he was trying to pull off.

"You've still got that on your mind, huh?"

"I just wonder who he's venting to. Normally he goes to Olette because she's a good listener when it comes to Hayner and his irritations, but she's the whole reason he's mad. Let's hope he isn't mad enough to confront Olette herself. He might make her feel worse."

"At the very least, he should already know how that would make her feel." Roxas retraced the steps of their argument with Hayner. Picking up on a crucial detail he overlooked in the midst of his anger towards Hayner, he spoke abruptly. "I know where he is." Pence's face showed signs of concern. "Don't worry. He's doing the right thing."

.xxx

I rested comfortably chin in hand as I ran my cold, tactile members across the edges of the new Victorian desk that my mother bought me for my birthday. She mentioned to me that it wasn't easy to come by, and the fact that she had tried so hard to buy me one is remarkable. Minutes passed before I realized that my right foot had gone numb from sitting on it for that lengthy time that I had. Drowsiness invaded my body and told me that I ought to head to bed, so I decided that maybe Drowsiness was right. The legs of my chair scraped across my hardwood floor as I stood up, and I stretched my arms as if to grab something from above me. After yawning, I looked out my bedroom window and barely saw the silhouette of a male across the road near the street lamp that was notorious for blowing light bulbs in the worst times of the night. The figure turned their head both ways and continued across the road in haste. I had my suspicions as to who it may have been and the doorbell downstairs confirmed my thoughts.

My feet padded down the rickety stairs as the doorbell rung again. Not wanting to wake my mother from her early slumber, I increased my pace, skipped the last two steps, and landed in front of the door. I opened the front door before the doorbell went off again and exhaled loudly.

"Come in, Hayner." I opened the door wider and stepped aside, motioning for him to come inside.

"Thanks." Hayner slipped out of his sneakers as I shut the door softly. "Hope I'm not bothering you." He said quietly, examining the silent surrounding.

"No, of course not." I shook my head, leading him into the kitchen and flicking on a light. "I just need some coffee. Do you want anything?"

"I'll have a cup, too." Hayner nodded and pulled out a chair from beneath the kitchen table and sat down. Not too long afterward I joined him at the table and slid his mug over to him carefully.

"So," I took a large sip from my mug. "What's on your mind?" I held my mug to the alignment of my chin in preparation for the next sip I knew I would want to take. The steam rose into the air and danced in front of my nostrils. I inhaled the scent willingly and repeated the ritual for the next few minutes before Hayner spoke up.

"I hurt Olette today." Hayner stared into his coffee cup as he spoke.

"You did upset her." I confirmed as if he had asked rather than stated his thought.

"Agghhh!" Hayner growled in frustration. "Why does she put up with that?" He asked to nobody in particular.

"I think she knows that you only have the best intentions, but-" I paused as Hayner looked up to meet my eyes. "But I think you shouldn't have acted the way you did! Sometimes we all think we know what is best for us and find out that what we thought wasn't true, but before you patronize Olette for talking to Seifer, let her make her own decisions and if it isn't what is best for her, then let her find out on her own." Before I caught myself, my true feelings on the situation had been said and Hayner had already absorbed them.

"I'm sorry." Hayner stood up abruptly and almost knocked over the half-empty mug. He started towards the door, but I blocked his path and put my hands on his shoulders disregarding the few inches height difference.

"Why are you apologizing to me? Don't apologize to me."

"Tell Olette I'm sorry." Hayner mumbled angrily and grabbed me by the waist and lifted me out of his way, but I didn't release him.

"Tell her yourself!" My arms ached as I tightened my grip around his neck.

"I - can't." He grunted and unsuccessfully tried to unlatch me.

"Yes you can, and you will." Hayner attempted to maneuver any way that he could before I kneed him in the stomach. "Hayner!" I said fiercely through clenched teeth, sick of his cowardice and avoidance of what he had really came to talk to me about. "Sit down and hear me out, please!" Hayner fell backwards onto his rear without warning and I knocked even more of his breath out of him when I landed on top of him.

"Damn it, Kairi... you have to stop doing that!" Hayner threw me off his torso furiously and tried breathing. I waited impatiently for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only twenty seconds, before Hayner's breathing was at a regular pace. I suspected that he had faked the last few seconds of rigid breathing to buy himself some more time before he had to face me.

"You're right, though," He finally said. "I just can't wrap my head around it!"

"It's okay if you don't understand; I don't understand. The best thing we can do is just support Olette." I lifted myself off the kitchen floor. "There would be nothing worse than for her to keep talking to Seifer knowing that we think he isn't a good person to be talking to."

Hayner stood up as well and made his way to the front door where he slipped back into his shoes. I trailed silently behind and waited to see him off into the night. He twisted the doorknob and slowly opened the door a crack before hesitating.

"Thanks, Kairi."

"You're welcome."

"No, really." Hayner closed the door and turned towards me. "Thank you."

"What are friends for, righ-" Before I could finish, Hayner cut me off with his lips. I didn't remember when it happened, but somehow one of his hands held my cheek while the other hand gripped my shoulder firmly. The warmth of his lips on mine appeased me, yet it provoked feelings of disconcertion. These feelings overwhelmed my mind and eventually became in step with my motor skills. I nudged his chest just enough so that we were not longer connected. When Hayner opened his eyes again, they were full of felicity that soon turned to affright.

"Sorry about that." Hayner returned his hands to himself and began to open the front door once again. "You just reminded me of someone," He said simply and backed out onto my porch into the darkness. I watched as he headed down my walkway, unlocked the white gate at the end, and turned right towards Olette's house. If nothing else was that simple for Hayner, why had this been?

A/N: This chapter, like many of the things I write, was not intended to go where it did. The idea kind of just came to me and I thought it was a good plot twister :]

I'm really crossing my fingers and toes that I can get faster updates, but no empty promises. At least my writers' block has let up a whole lot since last year, I can tell you that much has changed!